Ramble Beyond Horizons

Chapter 1: Beyond the Stars

The spacecraft was ready.

After months of preparation, calculations, and testing, the day had finally arrived. Beyond the walls of the launch facility lay a world that had become increasingly uncertain. The threat of nuclear war had forced humanity to confront a terrifying possibility: what if Earth was no longer safe to live on?

NASA had decided that finding another habitable planet was worth the risk.

And now, Tom and Ariel were going to find one.

Inside the spacecraft, Tom checked the equipment for what felt like the hundredth time. He had already checked it twice, but somehow that didn't stop him from checking it again.

"Everything's fine," Ariel said, watching him.

"I'm checking."

"You checked that five minutes ago."

"Six minutes, actually."

Ariel looked at him.

Tom continued checking.

"You're nervous," she said.

"I'm about to leave Earth in a metal box and travel into space. I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to be nervous."

"Fair enough."

A small noise came from behind them.

Physic had climbed onto a piece of equipment she absolutely wasn't supposed to be sitting on. She stared at the two astronauts as if they were the ones doing something wrong.

"Physic. No." Ariel pointed towards the floor.

The cat blinked.

"Physic."

She turned her head away.

Tom glanced over. "I think she's decided the rules don't apply to her."

"She's decided that since the day we brought her here."

Physic let out a long, demanding meow.

Tom nodded seriously. "You're right. We'll cancel the mission, return to Earth, and let you take over NASA."

Ariel burst out laughing.

Physic jumped down, landed on all four paws, and immediately began investigating something else.

Nearby, Alpha rolled across the floor on its wheels. The little robot had been assembled from scrap, and although it wasn't exactly the most impressive machine NASA had ever seen, it had earned its place aboard the spacecraft.

Alpha stopped beside a storage compartment and turned towards Tom.

"Yes, Alpha, I know," Tom said. "We're almost ready."

Alpha remained still for a moment before rolling away again.

Ariel watched it go. "At least one of you listens to me."

"I listen to you."

"Then why did you check the same equipment six times?"

"Because I listen to you. You told me to make sure everything was ready."

Ariel laughed.

For a moment, the spacecraft didn't feel like a machine about to carry them away from everything familiar. It felt almost ordinary. There was Tom, worrying over the equipment. There was Ariel, trying not to laugh at him. There was Physic, already ignoring the rules, and Alpha, rolling around as if this were just another day at work.

Then Ariel looked through the window.

Earth filled part of the view beyond the spacecraft, blue and beautiful against the darkness.

She fell quiet.

Tom noticed.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

He followed her gaze.

Neither spoke for a while.

They both knew why they were here. The mission wasn't simply about exploring space or making history. The possibility of nuclear war had made their journey more important than either of them wanted to admit. Somewhere on Earth, millions of people were continuing their lives, hoping that the future would still be there for them.

Tom looked away first.

"We'll find something," he said.

Ariel turned towards him. "A planet?"

"That's generally what we're looking for."

"You know what I mean."

He did.

"I hope so," he replied.

A small sapling was secured inside the spacecraft. It had been brought along as part of the mission, a living reminder of the world they had left behind. It was tiny compared with the enormous universe ahead of them, but it was alive.

Ariel checked its container before returning to her seat.

"Imagine growing this somewhere else," she said.

"Somewhere with a proper garden?"

"Somewhere people could actually live."

Tom glanced at the sapling.

"Let's find the somewhere first."

The final preparations began.

Soon, the spacecraft would leave Earth behind.

And there would be no easy way to turn around.

The first part of the journey passed without the disaster Tom had secretly been expecting.

The spacecraft continued through space, its systems operating as planned. The view outside changed as Earth grew more distant, until the planet that had once filled the sky became a smaller and smaller presence behind them.

Physic spent a considerable amount of time staring out of the window.

At one point, she placed her paws against it and watched the stars.

"She's enjoying herself," Ariel remarked.

Tom glanced at the cat. "Either that or she's wondering why the giant shiny ball we used to live on is getting smaller."

"Don't ruin the moment."

"I'm not ruining anything."

Physic turned away from the window and settled down as though she had seen enough of the universe for one day.

Alpha rolled between the spacecraft's compartments, performing its duties. Its wheels made a faint sound against the floor.

Everything was quiet.

Too quiet, perhaps, but neither astronaut had any reason to believe something was about to go wrong.

Then the instruments began registering something unusual.

Tom leaned towards the display.

"What's that?"

Ariel moved beside him. "I don't know. It's not on our expected readings."

The anomaly appeared ahead of them.

At first, it looked like a distortion in the stars. The points of light seemed bent around an invisible boundary, as if something had twisted the space between them. As the spacecraft drew nearer, the distortion became impossible to ignore.

Tom stared at it.

"That's not a planet."

"No," Ariel replied.

"Could it be an optical effect?"

"Not one that looks like that."

They continued observing the phenomenon, trying to make sense of what lay ahead. The shape grew larger as they approached, revealing an immense opening surrounded by warped starlight.

A wormhole.

Neither of them had expected to encounter anything like it during the mission.

Tom looked between the display and the view outside.

"We should keep our distance."

"Agreed."

But the situation was becoming increasingly difficult to understand. The spacecraft was already close, and the strange formation seemed to dominate everything in front of them.

Ariel gripped the edge of her seat.

"Tom, look at the stars."

The light beyond the window was bending in ways neither of them could explain.

For a moment, neither astronaut spoke.

All their training, all their calculations, and all their preparations had been made for a mission to find a habitable planet. They had not prepared for this.

Tom tried to steady himself.

"Can we get away from it?"

Ariel focused on the controls.

"I don't know."

That was the answer neither of them wanted.

The wormhole filled more and more of their view. The spacecraft moved closer to its boundary, and the familiar arrangement of stars disappeared behind the distortion.

Physic rose to her feet.

Alpha stopped moving.

Even the small, ordinary sounds of the spacecraft seemed insignificant now.

Tom looked towards Ariel.

"Whatever happens, stay with me."

"I'm here."

Then the spacecraft crossed into the wormhole.

The universe outside vanished into a confusion of light and darkness.

The spacecraft shook violently. The controls and displays became difficult to read as the vessel was swept into the unknown. Tom tried to remain conscious, but the strange forces acting on them were unlike anything he had experienced.

Ariel called out to him.

He tried to answer.

He couldn't.

The last thing he saw was the distorted light beyond the window.

Then everything went black.

The spacecraft came crashing down into a desert.

Its impact sent sand flying into the air, and the damaged vessel skidded across the ground before finally coming to a stop.

Silence returned to the desert.

There were no familiar landmarks, no roads, and no sign of the Earth they had left behind. Only the endless landscape surrounded the spacecraft.

Inside, Tom and Ariel lay unconscious.

Physic was still aboard, motionless beside the seats, while Alpha remained among the equipment. The sapling was secured in its container, its little leaves still attached to its thin stem.

Time passed.

Eventually, Tom stirred.

His head hurt. Every part of his body felt heavy, and for several seconds, he couldn't remember where he was.

Then the crash came back to him.

"Ariel?"

His voice was weak.

He tried again.

"Ariel!"

She moved in her seat.

"Tom...?"

"Are you okay?"

"I think so." She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. "What happened?"

"I don't know."

Tom struggled to sit up. Something felt wrong, but he couldn't immediately identify what it was. His back felt strange, and his clothes seemed tighter than he remembered.

Ariel noticed him moving awkwardly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just—"

He stopped.

Something had changed.

Before either of them could investigate further, Ariel looked towards the window.

"Tom."

He followed her gaze.

Outside was a desert stretching into the distance. The spacecraft had landed in a place neither of them recognised.

"Where are we?" she whispered.

Tom had no answer.

He checked the spacecraft's equipment, hoping for some indication of their location. The damage made it difficult to understand what had happened during their journey through the wormhole.

They had left Earth to search for another planet.

Now they were stranded in a desert, with no idea where they were or how they had arrived.

"Ariel, help me check the others."

They found Physic nearby. She was alive, but something unusual had appeared on her head: a purple stone that hadn't been there before.

Ariel stared at it.

"Tom... what is that?"

He leaned closer, unsure whether to touch it.

"I have no idea."

Physic stirred and looked at them. She seemed confused, but otherwise alert.

Then she opened her mouth.

"Finally! I thought you two were going to sleep forever!"

Tom froze.

Ariel froze.

They both stared at the cat.

Tom slowly turned towards Ariel. "Did... did she just talk?"

Physic flicked her tail. "No, Tom. You imagined it. Now, could someone please explain why my head feels like a jewellery shop?"

Ariel covered her mouth, trying to process what she was hearing.

Tom pointed at Physic. "You're TALKING!"

"Congratulations, Captain Obvious. You can hear."

Ariel finally burst out laughing. Even with the crash, the strange desert, and the purple stone on Physic's head, she couldn't help herself.

Tom looked at the cat in disbelief.

"I think we've got bigger problems than finding a planet."

Physic glanced towards the window.

"Yeah. Like figuring out where we are. And finding me something to eat."

Alpha was different, too.

The little robot that had once been assembled from scrap no longer looked quite the same. Its body had changed, becoming far more advanced than the machine they remembered. Its wheels had begun to transform, and the strange changes continued until it rose above the ground, hovering instead of rolling across it.

Tom stepped back.

"Alpha?"

The robot turned towards him.

Ariel looked between Alpha and Physic, struggling to understand what she was seeing.

Then Tom felt something move beneath the back of his clothes.

He reached behind himself and froze.

Scales.

His back was covered in them.

And as he tried to stand, he realised he was larger than before.

"Ariel..."

She turned towards him.

For once, she had nothing to say.

The wormhole had done something to them. Whatever world they had crossed into, it had changed them in ways neither astronaut could explain.

Ariel reached towards her hair. It felt different, remarkably silky beneath her fingers, unlike anything she remembered.

She looked at Tom, then at Physic and Alpha.

"What happened to us?"

Tom looked out towards the desert.

He wished he knew.

Their mission had begun with a search for a new home, but this was nothing like the future they had imagined. They had crossed a wormhole, lost consciousness, and crashed into an unknown world. Now, their own bodies and their companions had changed.

And they were completely alone.

The small sapling remained inside the damaged spacecraft, waiting to be discovered again.

Beyond the wreckage, the desert stretched towards the horizon.

Tom took a slow breath.

"We need to figure out where we are."

Ariel nodded, though uncertainty remained in her eyes.

Physic sat beside them, examining her strange new gemstone.

"Well," she muttered, "at least this trip isn't boring anymore."

Neither of them knew what waited beyond the desert, what had caused their transformations, or whether the wormhole had left them any way back.

They had arrived in Plane Zero.

Their old lives were already behind them.

And their real journey was only beginning.

As Tom and Ariel began exploring the damaged spacecraft, a faint voice suddenly echoed through the corridor.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Please, can someone help me?"

Both of them stopped.

"Did you hear that?" Ariel whispered.

Tom nodded. "Yeah. Where's it coming from?"

They followed the sound towards the lower basement of the spacecraft. With every step, the voice became clearer.

"Hello? Anyone? Please!"

Tom reached the basement entrance and looked down into the darkness. Something moved at the far end.

Ariel stood beside him, trying to see through the dim light.

"Is someone down there?" Tom called.

The voice fell silent.

For a few seconds, neither of them moved.

Then a mysterious figure shifted in the shadows below.

Tom took a cautious step down.

"Who are you?"

The figure didn't answer.

Instead, a faint voice emerged from the darkness.

"Please... don't leave me here."

Tom and Ariel exchanged nervous glances.

They had thought they were alone in the spacecraft.

So who—or what—was waiting for them in the basement?